Eat a healthy diet. Your diabetic care team will advise what foods can control your blood sugar levels. If your body mass index (BMI) is over 27, you may be advised to lose weight.

Take a 5 milligram (mg) folic acid supplement before conception, and continue until week 12 of your pregnancy. This is higher than the 0.4mg standard dose for pregnant women.

During pregnancy

Attend all your appointments at a joint antenatal and diabetic care clinic. Women with diabetes should see a diabetes care team for an assessment of glycaemic control every one to two weeks throughout pregnancy.

You should be offered an eye test after your first antenatal appointment and again at 28 weeks.

Your kidneys should be assessed as soon as possible, unless they’ve been tested in the previous 12 months.

Test your blood sugar levels before meals, one hour after meals and before bed. Report any changes to your diabetic care team.

You may be given ketone testing strips to use if your blood sugar level is too high. If ketones are present in your blood, this may be a sign of diabetic ketoacidosis, which will need hospital treatment.

If you use insulin, keep a glucagon emergency kit at home. Make sure you and others at home know how and when to use it.